Are you interested in doing an independent study? How do you find an advisor to work with? Have you wondered about the thesis process? What is the difference between a 295 and a 395 independent study?

Margaret Atwood Reading, Thursday, October 22 at 7:00 pm in Gamble AuditoriumSponsored by the Odyssey Bookshop and English at MHC

Amy Glynn '92, reading from her poetry collection A Modern Herbalon Tuesday, October 27 at 7:00 pm in 107 Shattuck Hall

Amy Glynn is a poet and essayist whose work appears widely in journals and anthologies including The Best American Poetry. Her collection A Modern Herbal was published by Measure Press in 2013. She has been a James Merrill house fellow, was the inaugural recipient of Poetry Northwest's Carolyn Kaiser award, and won the 2015 essay award from Literal Latte.

Ruth Ozeki in Conversation, Thursday, December 10 at 7:00 pm in the New York Room, Mary E. Woolley Hall

English Department Winter Social, Monday, December 14 at 4:30 in the Cassani Room, 102 Shattuck Hall

Join us for refreshments at 4:30 and faculty readings at 5:15!

Spring 2015

Fourth Annual Student Showcase, Tuesday, February 17 at 7:00 pm in 102 Shattuck Hall, the Cassani Room Students will read from original works of fiction, nonfiction, essays, journalism, and poetry.

Wendy Belcher '84, Thursday, February 19 at 7:30 pm in 102 Shattuck Hall, the Cassani RoomTalk: "Same-Sex Intimacies in an Early Modern African Text about an Ethiopian Female Saint, Gädlä Wälättä P̣etros (1672)" Discussion with Professor Belcher: Friday, February 20 from 9:30 am to 11:00 am in 102 Shattuck Hall, the Cassani Room

Journalism Coffee Chat, Tuesday, February 24 at 4:30 pm in 102 Shattuck Hall, the Cassani RoomEllen Gabler, winner of this year's prestigious Livingston Award given to journalists under the age of 35, will host a coffee chat in the Cassani Room on February 24 from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. Please come meet with one of the profession's rising stars. She will talk about her work, investigative reporting, how she got her start in journalism, and what steps aspiring journalists should take to prepare for a rewarding career. She will also answer any and all questions that come her way.

Gathering for Majors and Prospectives, Wednesday, February 25 at 4:15 in the Cassani Room, 102 Shattuck Hall

PoetryFest, Wednesday, March 4 at 7:30 pm in Gamble Auditorium The 13th Annual Five College PoetryFest will be held at 7:30 p.m. in Gamble Auditorium on the Mount Holyoke College campus. PoetryFest celebrates the quality and range of student poetry with two writers representing Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Smith colleges and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Poorna Swami '15 and Jocelyn Mosman '17 represent MHC this year.

*** RESCHEDULED for Wednesday, April 8 *** What Can You Do With An English Major? Wednesday, March 25 at 4:15 in the Cassani Room, 102 Shattuck Hall

Graduate School Information Session & What Can You Do With An English Major?, Wednesday, April 8 at 4:15 in the Cassani Room, 102 Shattuck Hall

Lunchtime Thinkers, Wednesday, April 22 from 12:15 to 1:00 pm in the Cassani Room, 102 Shattuck HallJoin English faculty as they engage in an informal conversation about how they approach the concept of “utopia.”

Fall 2014

Journalism Career Chat with Bob Nickelsberg, Monday, September 22 at 4:30 in the Stimson Room, Williston Memorial Library (originally planned for 106 Shattuck)

Journalism Career Chat with Jim Steele, Tuesday, October 7 at 4:30 in the Cassani Room, 102 Shatuck Hall

Marlon James book reading, Tuesday, October 7 at 7:00 pm in the New York Room, Mary Woolley Hall Sponsored by the Odyssey Bookshop, Africana Studies and English at MHC

Richard Blanco book reading, Wednesday, October 8 at 7:00 pm in the New York Room, Mary Woolley HallSponsored by the Odyssey Bookshop, the English dept & Spanish, Latina/o, and Latin American Studies at MHC & Odyssey

Independent Study Information Session, Wednesday, October 22 at 4:15 in the Cassani Room, 102 Shattuck Hall Are you interested in doing an independent study? How do you find an advisor to work with? Have you wondered about the thesis process? What is the difference between a 295 and a 395 independent study?Professors Martin, Alderman, and Yu will review the process and answer any questions you may have.

Lan Cao '83 book reading, Wednesday, October 22 at 7:00 pm in Gamble Auditorium, Art Building An Odyssey Bookshop event sponsored by the Department of English at MHC

Tony DiTerlizzi reading, Monday, November 10 at 7:00 pm in Gamble Auditorium New York Times Best-Selling and Caldecott Honor-winning author of The Spiderwick Books, The Wondla Trilogy

Please join the students in ENGL265: Children's and Young Literature: A View from Childhood to the World for the opportunity to hear Caldecott Honor winning and New York Times best selling author Tony DiTerlizzi (diterlizzi.com) talk about the books that he has been creating during the last decade. He and his collaborator, Holly Black, created the middle grade sensation, The Spiderwick Chronicles (also adapted into a feature film in 2008), he just finished writing The Wondla books, a science fiction trilogy that included The Search for WondLa, A Hero for WondLa and The Battle for WondLa (www.wondla.com). In 2014, he teamed up with Lucasfilm to retell the original Star Wars trilogy in a picture book featuring artwork by Academy award-winning concept artist, Ralph McQuarrie.

The conversation will be hosted by visiting lecturer Susannah Richards, member of the 2013 Newbery Award Committee, Associate professor of Education at Eastern Connecticut State University and a national reviewer and presenter on books for youth. The conversation will focus on how reading impacts the creative process of a writer and illustrator in creating fantasy and science fiction books for youth. There will be Q&A and book signing after the conversation and the Odyssey Book Shop will have books available for sale.

English Department Winter Social, Monday, December 8 at 4:30 in the Cassani Room, 102 Shattuck HallJoin us for refreshments at 4:30 and faculty readings at 5:15

Faculty Reading, Valerie Martin reads from The Ghost of the Mary Celeste, an Odyssey Bookshop event, Tuesday, February 25 at 7:00, Odyssey Bookshop

Considering a career in Journalism? The Department of English invites you to join James Asher, the Washington Bureau Chief of the McClatchy Newspapers, for an informal chat about first steps and real-world challenges. Asher is a seasoned investigative journalist who leads a staff of 40 reporters as they deliver news from the nation's capital and around the world. Monday, March 3 at 4:30 pm in the Cassani Room, 102 Shattuck Hall, Light refreshments will be served.

James Asher Journalism Talk, Tuesday, March 4 at 7:00 pm in Gamble Auditorium, Art Building

APA Symposium, The State of Asian, Pacific, and American Studies in the Five Colleges, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm on Saturday, March 8 in Gamble Auditorium, Art Building, MHC

APA Keynote Lecture, "Why Asian American Studies Matters Now" by George Lipsitz at 4:30 pm on Saturday, March 8 in Gamble Auditorium

Lunchtime Thinkers, Kate Singer on Marjorie Levinson, Monday, March 10 from 12:30-1:00 in the Cassani Room

Book Reading, Gayle Pemberton will read from her work, Tuesday, March 11 at 4:15 in 217 Shattuck Hall

Five College PoetryFest, Carrie Carter '16 & Erika Onusseit '14 will represent MHC at the Twelfth-Annual Five College Student Poetry Fest on Wednesday, March 12 at 7:30 in Pruyne Lecture Hall, Fayerweather Hall, Amherst College

Gathering for Majors & Prospectives, an opportunity for students to spend time with department faculty & discuss courses and all aspects of the major, Tuesday, March 25 at 4:15 pm in the Cassani Room, 102 Shattuck Hall

Faculty Reading, Catherine Manegold and Karen Osborn read from their work, Monday, March 24 at 4:30 in the Stimson Room, Williston Library

Book Party, join us to celebrate the release of Corinne Demas' latest book, Returning to Shore, Tuesday, April 1 at 4:15 in the Stimson Room, Willitson Library

Lunchtime Thinkers, Elizabeth Young on Laura Mulvey, Wednesday, April 9 from 12:30 to 1:00 in the Cassani Room

Spring 2013

Amy Martin Book Reading, Wednesday, February 13 at 7:00 pm at the Odyssey BookshopAmy Martin reads from her recently published book, Alter-Nations: Nationalisms, Terror, and the State in Nineteenth-Century Britain and Irelandsee Odyssey Bookshop for more

Richard Ford Book Reading, Wednesday, February 20 at 7:00 pm at the Odyssey BookshopAuthor Richard Ford reads from his book, Canadasponsored by the Odyssey Bookshop

Jane Yolen Book Reading, Thursday, February 21 at 4:15 pm in 102 Shattuck Hall, the Cassani Room Jane Yolen, author of more than 300 books, will be the first guest in the English Department’s Children’s Literature Series. Yolen, who has been called “The American Hans Christian Andersen,” has published picture books, YA and middle grade novels, short stories, poetry, folklore, fantasy, and science fiction, among other genres. Her books include Owl Moon (winner of the Caldecott medal), The Devil’s Arithmetic, and How Does a Dinosaur Say Goodnight? There will be an informal talk, a Q&A, and refreshments. This is free and open to the community. A display of Yolen’s books (there are seventy of them in the college collection) is in the atrium of the library.

Violet Kupersmith '11 Reading, Wednesday, February 27 at 7:00 pm in the Stimson Reading Room, Williston LibraryJoin MHC alumna and former English major for a reading

Crafting a Life in the Arts, Saturday, March 9Considering an artistic career? Wondering how to craft a meaningful lifestyle? Want insider info on finding opportunities and connecting with established professionals?Join a campus-wide dialogue with established and emerging artists! For registration details, please visit the CDC's Crafting a Life page

Jamaica Kincade, Monday, March 11 at 7:00 pm at Gamble AuditoriumThe Odyssey Bookshop invites you to a discussion and signing of See Now Then by Jamaica Kincade

Michael Croland Book Reading, Thursday, March 14 at 4:15 pm in the Stimson Reading Room, Williston LibrarySecond guest in the English Department's Children's Literature Series

Lunch for Majors and Prospectives, Wednesday, March 27 at 12:15 in the Cassani Room, 102 Shattuck HallPre-registration lunch for majors and prospectives

Tuesday, March 26 at 4:15 pm in the Cassani Room, 102 Shattuck HallTalk & Coffeechat with Melinda Henneberger of the Washington Post

Five College PoetryFest, Thursday, March 28 at 7:30 pm at Smith College Five College PoetryFest congratulations to Lauren Abbate '13 & Anthea Hubanks FP '15 who represented MHC this year!

Emily Bazelon lecture, Monday, April 1, 7:00 pm Gamble AuditoriumThe author of Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy

Fall 2012

Wednesday, October 3 at 6:00 pm in the Warbecke Room, Pratt Hall Francine Prose "Preview" eventstudents and faculty welcomeWednesday, October 10 at 7:00 pm in Hooker Auditorium, Clapp BuildingLeading Women in the Arts Francine ProseLanguage and CharacterFree and open to the publicAcclaimed author Francine Prose is this year's Leading Woman in the Arts guest speaker who will discuss the unique ways in which writers use language to create characters in literature.

Thursday, October 18 at 7:30 pm in Gamble AuditoriumKenneth HarrowWorld Cinema versus Subjectivity: How to Read Kelani’s Abenireception with author to follow

Tuesday, November 13 at 8:00 pm at Amherst Books, 8 Main Street, AmherstChrisopher Benfey book readingan Amherst College creative writing fall reading series event413-542-8200 for more information

Wednesday, November 14 at 7:00 pm at Odyssey BookshopKaren Osborn book readingAuthor of Patchwork, Between Earth and Sky, and The River Road, Professor Osborn will read from her new forth novel, Centerville.

Wednesday, November 14 at 4:00 in the Cassani Room, 102 Shattuck HallTalk & CoffeeAlexander Heffner, journalist, blogger, political junkie and founder of SCOOP08, a web-based student newspaper that covered the 2008 presidential election, will discuss how he got his start in journalism and share his thoughts on startups and traditional media outlets. Fresh from the 2012 election, he will engage students in a conversation about the impact of campaign coverage on young voters, and weigh in on the future of the Fourth Estate in a time of rapid technological change.

Spring 2012

Wednesday, February 15 at 7:00 pm in the Stimson Room, Williston Memorial LibraryA Reading of, Family Business, a play by Corinne DemasFriday, March 10 from 11:00-2:30 pm in Pratt HallWorkshop: Crafting a Life in the Artsan InterArts Council event

Tuesday, March 27 at 7:00 pm in Gamble Auditorium, Art BuildingWhistleblowingfilm: The Most Dangerous Man in America

Tuesday, April 3 at 4:30 pm in Gamble Auditorium, Art BuildingShakespeare Symposium: A Shakespeare symposium in honor of Gwen and Allen Smith Professor of English Frank Brownlow. Featured speakers: William Carroll, Boston University, and Martha Tuck Rozett, University at Albany, State University of New York

Thursday, April 5 at 7:00 pm in the Stimson Room, Williston Memorial LibraryFaculty Fiction Reading by Karen Osborn (Patchwork, Between Earth and Sky, The River Road) and Dean Albarelli (Cheaters and Other Stories)The event is free and open to the public.

Tuesday, April 10 at 7:00 pm at the Odyssey BookshopChristopher Benfey book reading and signingvisit the Odyssey Bookshop for more

Tuesday, October 4 at 7:00 at Odyssey Bookshop Robert Shaw reads from his recently published book of poems titled, Aromaticsvisit the Odyssey Bookshop for more

Tuesday, September 27 at 7:30 in Gamble Auditorium, MHC Mahale: Healthy Families, Sustainable Fisheries, and Abundant Forests in Western Tanzania

Caroline Crosbie, Senior Vice President at Pathfinder International, and Mustafa Kudrati, Pathfinder’s Tanzania Country Representative, discuss Pathfinder International, The Nature Conservancy, and The Frankfurt Zoological Society’s groundbreaking approach to community health, poverty reduction, and environmental sustainability in a remote, but environmentally critical corner of Africa.

Sponsors: African and African American Studies; Department of English; Department of Gender Studies; Five College African Studies Council; International Relations; Miller Worley Center for the Environment; and the Office of the President.

AY 2010-11 Events

Thursday, April 21 at 5:30Black Took Collective: Live Feed from a Black UnconsciousperformanceRooke Theatre

Monday, April 5, 2010 at 7:00 pmC.S. Manegold will read from and sign her new book,Ten Hills Farm: The Forgotten History of Slavery in the North106 Gamble Auditorium, Art BuildingMount Holyoke College

Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 4:00 pmPanel Discussion with the Authors and Illustrators ofThe Making of a Picture Book: The Marriage of Text and ArtStimson Room, Williston LibraryExhibit - Friday, March 5 - Monday, April 12, 2010Atrium, Williston Library

Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 5:30 pmWinter Social102 Shattuck Hall, The Cassani RoomCelebrate the last day of classes with the English Department faculty and students. Faculty readings and refreshments by the English Student Board. All are welcome!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009 at 7:00 pmValerie Martin will read from and sign her new novel The Confessions of Edward DayNew York Room, Mary Woolley HallCosponsored by The Odyssey Bookshop and the Mount Holyoke English Department

Monday, May 04, 2009 at 7:00 pmRonaldo V. Wilson: Narrative of the Life of the Brown Boy and the White ManOdyssey Bookshop, Village CommonsThe visiting instructor in English will read from and sign his collection of poetry, which won the 2007 Cave Canem Poetry Prize.

Beryl is divorced and her two kids are grown and far away. A friend has given her a gift of ten potential dates from an online Match service. What are the chances she can find someone who'll love her for who she is?

Wednesday, March 25th and Thursday, March 26 at 8:00 pmMount Holyoke - Blanchard Student Center Great RoomFree AdmissionDonations to benefit the Frances Perkins Program's Deborah Light Memorial Emergency Loan FundParking after 7:00 pm in any staff or faculty parking place

Monday, April 6th at 7:00 pm at Amherst CinemaTickets $8 reserved and at the doorTo benefit the Amherst Survival CenterFor further information and advance tickets...

Amity Gaige will read from The Folded World, newly published in paperback. Gaige, who lives in Amherst and teaches at Mount Holyoke College, is also author of O My Darling. The Chicago Tribune, which chose The Folded World as one of the best books of 2007, wrote that it "will appeal to readers who like to dive into the muck of internal and interpersonal conflicts, and break the surface with breath born of insight and empathy. Amity Gaige's second novel lives up to the reputation she earned with her first one, as an original, compelling voice." It was named ForeWord Book of the Year and best book of fiction in the Independent Publisher Book Awards.

Monday, February 23 at 4:00 pmReading by Professor Lois BrownRace-ing the Curtain: Performing Race in Post-Slavery AmericaAssociate Professor of English and Director of the Weissman Center for Leadership (Mount Holyoke College)Location: Five College Women's Studies Research Center, 83 College Street

In the 1880s, New Englanders flocked to theatres and outdoor entertainment venues to see gripping and extravagant historical reenactments of American antebellum life. Many of these shows, however, extended the pervasive and demoralizing racial stereotypes that were at the core of minstrelsy and blackface performances. One of the most memorable challenges to such troubling racial reconstructions came from Pauline Hopkins, a celebrated Boston vocalist and writer who became the first woman of color in the United States to write and star in her own dramatic plays. This talk analyzes the politics of racialized historical reenactments, chronicles Hopkins's sophisticated response to damaging essentializations of African Americans and American history, and considers the nature of racial uplift and cultural critique that shaped New England's continued recovery from America's history of enslavement.

Ayesha Harruna Attah is a writer and journalist. She has worked as a freelance writer for the Accra Daily Mail, a Ghanaian newspaper, the African Magazine and Yachting Magazine.

Born in Accra, Ghana, Ayesha lived there for 17 years before moving to Massachusetts to study biochemistry at Mount Holyoke College. She also holds an M.S. in magazine journalism from Columbia University.

At the Per Sesh Writer's Workshop, with a fellowship from TrustAfrica and the Ford Foundation, she wrote her first novel, Harmattan Rain. It tells the story of three generations of a family from the independence of Ghana till the late 1990s. Published by Ayi Kwei Armah's cooperative Per Ankh Publishers, the book is being launched this week in New York City.

Reading sponsored by MHCASA (Mount Holyoke Caribbean and African Students Association) and the Department of English and African-American/African Studies.

Please join the English Department as we celebrate the last day of classes with winter cheer and to hear seasonal readings from Peter Berek, Frank Brownlow, and Karen Osborn on Friday, December 12 from 4:15 to 6:00 pm in 102 Shattuck Hall, The Cassani Room. Refreshments will be served.

Eric Avila is Associate Professor of UCLA's César E. Chávez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies and the Department of History. He is the author of Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight: Fear and Fantasy in Suburban Los Angeles (UC Press, 2004) and is currently at work on a second book, Folklore of the Freeway: Highway Construction and the Making of Race in the Modernist City. This new book project, from which his lecture will be drawn, examines how freeways engender subjective expressions of social identity.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008 7:00 pmA Reading by Professor Elizabeth YoungBlack Frankenstein: The Making of an American MetaphorThe Odyssey Book Shop, Village Commons

For all the scholarship devoted to Mary Shelley's English novel, Frankenstein, there has been surprisingly little attention paid to its role in American culture, and virtually none to its racial resonance in the United States. In Black Frankenstein, Elizabeth Young identifies and interprets the figure of a black American Frankenstein monster as it appears with surprising frequency throughout nineteenth- and twentieth-century U.S. culture, in fiction, film, essays, oratory, painting, and other media, and in works by both whites and African Americans.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008 4:15 pmJeffrey Harrison to Read His PoemsStimson Room, MHC LibraryRefreshments will be served

Since 1988, when his first volume was chosen by James Merrill for the National Poetry Series, Harrison has published five collections of poems, the most recent being The Names of Things: New and Selected Poems, and Incomplete Knowledge. A recipient of numerous awards, including Guggenheim and NEA fellowships, he has taught at George Washington University, Phillips Academy, and the College of the Holy Cross. He is currently on the faculty of the Stonecoast MFA Program at the University of Southern Maine.